Disney Regains Rights To Six Marvel Defender Series From Netflix

The Walt Disney Co. DIS has regained the rights to six Marvel Defenders series that it originally licensed to Netflix NFLX prior to the launch of the Disney+ streaming service.

What Happened: Entertainment Weekly first reported that Netflix attached a note to each series that announced, “This show is available until March 1st.”

The six limited-edition series – “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “The Punisher,” “Iron Fist” and “The Defenders” – were created during the years of the now-defunct Marvel Television. Netflix began streaming the series starting in 2015, four years before Disney+ went live.

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What Happens Next: Netflix stopped producing episodes for these series in 2018 when Disney announced plans to produce original Marvel material for Disney+.

Disney did not announce its plans for the regained properties, which could either run on Disney+ or Hulu. However, it appears there are plans to reboot a few of the characters from these productions: Vincent D’Onofrio’s villainous Kingpin from Daredevil appeared in the Disney-Marvel series “Hawkeye” and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil character made an appearance in Sony Pictures’ SONY “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Cox seemed to confirm that Daredevil would be making a comeback, mentioning in a recent interview that “I know a little bit – not a huge amount, but a little bit.” 

Photo: Charlie Cox as the title character in “Daredevil,” courtesy of Netflix